


Disaster

by makomaragi



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: Community: femmeslash, Established Relationship, F/F, Family, Family Feels, Femslash, Femslash February, Femslash February 2019, Implied Sexual Content, LGBTQ Themes, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 06:57:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18047738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makomaragi/pseuds/makomaragi
Summary: Professor Juniper's father comes for an unexpected visit. Originally written for Femslash February in 2019.





	Disaster

The professor knew it annoyed Fennel when she set an alarm for their days off, but she didn’t care most days. Fennel didn’t have to get up if she didn’t want to. She slept like a rock as it was, it wasn’t as if it would wake her up, anyway.

Sitting up, the brunette stretched out her arms, throwing the covers over her sleeping girlfriend and picking up her robe from off the floor. She was extremely under dressed for how chilly the room was, despite wearing a t-shirt and pajama pants, not sure why they kept it so cold in the first place. The only reason she could think of was the excuse to use all of the blankets they had acquired for some reason over the years. She counted three on the bed alone at the moment, and it never seemed like enough.

She made her way downstairs slowly, but stopped in her tracks when she heard a quiet chatter. One of the voices was very familiar – her father. What was he doing here? When did he get here? Was he on the phone? Who was he talking to at eight in the morning?

After covering but a few more steps, she realized the other person at their kitchen table was none other than the world renowned Pokemon researcher – Professor Oak. Her father had a habit of showing up unannounced, which she never terribly minded, but to bring a guest, and one that she had nothing but an exceedingly professional relationship with?

“Aurea!” her father called when he finally noticed her, raising his cup of coffee with a broad grin. “Come, join us!”

Aurea Juniper pulled the strings on the robe at her waist to better cover herself, despite being fully clothed. Should she go back to her bedroom and make herself more presentable? Her father and their colleague both appeared to be dressed, groomed, and ready for the day already. She looked like quite a sloppy mess in comparison.

Not only was she a mess, but so was their house. Had she known someone was coming over, she would of cleaned up a bit. Her and Fennel’s laundry was thrown in a pile by the basement steps, there were chip and cookie bags littered throughout the living room that they had left the night before, some of which were probably empty.

“Aurea! I’m cold, come back to bed!” she heard Fennel yell before she could decide what her action plan was, feeling her face lose all its color.

“I, um…” the youngest professor started. How long had the two men been here? Hopefully they had just arrived, and hopefully Fennel would put some clothes on should she choose to come find out what was keeping her.

“My dear, Sam and I were just talking about you. He would love to hear more about the trip you took to the Sinnoh mines looking for fossils,” Cedric Juniper didn’t at all seem phased by how awkward she must of appeared, let alone her girlfriend calling to her.

The younger Juniper chose to ignore her girlfriend for now – perhaps the others didn’t hear her, though she could be pretty loud. The thought alone sent a chill up her spine in  _really_ hoping that they hadn’t arrived but a few hours ago.

“When, um, did you get here, Papa?”

“Last night, it was fairly late, around two, I think. I knew you wouldn’t mind the two of us here just for the night. You were both already in bed, I was hoping to have a few beers with you.”

They had arrived a few hours after they had gone to bed, which cleared her of that anxiety.

“Ugh, honey, I’m so cold, would you-” Fennel appeared as Aurea hoped she wouldn’t, draping her body over her and pressing her chin in to her shoulder. Nothing but her robe and a blanket covering her, also stopped in her tracks at the realization of their guests. “Oh, hi!” The scientist waved cheerfully to the two men, both waving back as if they were friends greeting each other on the street. Her tired demeanor seemed to evaporate immediately when she realized they had company, but it didn’t seem to occur to her to get dressed, either.

“Fennel! Ah, so good to see you, my dear!” Cedric held his arms out stretched, Fennel racing down the steps to hug him.

“Doctor Fennel, I didn’t expect to see you as well!” Professor Oak seemed surprised, but not offended in the least by her presence.

“Oh, well, I live here, Professor,” Fennel shrugged at that. “Are you guys hungry? I’ll make us all pancakes!”

None of them seemed to of found this all as weird or awkward as Aurea Juniper had. Fennel was rushing around the kitchen half naked making breakfast. Professor Oak, a researcher whom she had admired for as long as she could remember, was seated across from her father, both of which could of very well heard them messing around night. But, surely they had not, if it were that late when they arrived. The evidence was there, even if only she herself saw it, especially the beginnings of a bruise on Fennel’s neck that was visible if the robe moved off her shoulders the right way.

At some point, Aurea had become brave enough to seat herself at the table with the two guests. Her father poured her a cup of coffee, even placing the cream and sugar in front of her.

“You know, there’s quite a bit of space in the house. You have, what, three extra rooms? You should really consider making this a bed and breakfast place for trainers passing through,” her father seemed satisfied with his suggestion, taking a long sip from his coffee. “Or, at least until you have your own children.”

Aurea gave a small nod yet couldn’t tear her eyes off of her girlfriend, who had longed dropped the blanket once held around her shoulders somewhere between the stairs and the kitchen, clad now only in a robe. She moved effortlessly through the kitchen, mixing the ingredients, humming to herself. On a normal morning, she’d approach her, wrapping her arms around her, Fennel ignoring her advances and continuing her breakfast concoction. She felt as if the other two men noticed her staring at the other woman, tearing her eyes off of her and to the cup of coffee before her. She wasn’t staring for the reason they had probably implied, anyway, but for the fact that she was inappropriately dressed.

Fennel caught her glance for half a second, smiling and raising her eyebrows. Aurea tilted her head in the direction of their room, hoping she would take the hint. She did not.

She truly couldn’t be upset with Fennel in any of it, neither of them knew the senior professors made themselves at home last night with no warning. Aurea found herself in a place of deep regret giving him a house key, it was her own fault for inviting him knowing full well that he would make himself right at home and invite his own guests.

“I, um…wish I had known you both were coming,” Aurea started. “I would of cleaned up the house a bit more.”

“Your father told me that you had purchased a house, but he neglected to tell me that you shared it with the lovely Doctor Fennel,” Oak was ever the professional, smiling, ignoring the statement that Aurea had confessed that their house was in disarray, nor seeming phased that she had a live in girlfriend, if he had even put that together. It wouldn’t have been difficult.

Fennel had turned and smiled at the compliment, winking and continuing to focus on her mixture.

“Aurea can be quite modest and untelling, aren’t you, dear?” Cedric laughed, Oak laughed, and even Fennel laughed, leaving Aurea wondering what was so funny. “You two have been here together for, what, about a year now? She had enough of spending the weekend in your apartment above the lab.”

“Papa,” the younger professor spoke in a hushed tone, “I don’t exactly broadcast that she lives here. Or that we’re together. I wish that you wouldn’t, either.”

“Oh, well, you should,” Professor Oak seemed to address the building tension, laughing, stirring his coffee off handedly. “You and Doctor Fennel have both done quite well for yourselves if you ask me.”

Usually she would of accepted the compliment with poise and grace, but she made it known for a nod for now.  

“You know, I remember when you were…what, couldn’t have been more than ten years old. Old enough to begin your own Pokemon journey, for sure. You and your father were visiting Kanto, and I asked you why you weren’t on a Pokemon journey and offered you a starter. You said you didn’t want to train Pokemon, you wanted to study them.”

“Pancakes are done!” Fennel’s announcement cut off their thoughts, scraping them off the pan and on to the plate she placed in the center of the table.

The brunette gave way to a smile when they met glances as Fennel took the seat next to her. She was still incredibly uncomfortable with how they were both presenting themselves, but for that half of a second, she didn’t mind.

“My darling daughter, I have but one more favor to ask. Can you take us to the port? We need to get a ferry to Virbank.”

“Can’t you just take a taxi?” Aurea visibly rolled her eyes and sighed at this. “You drop in, bring a guest, completely unannounced, might I add, you spend the night, now you need a ride to the docks?”

“Aurea’s just cranky because we didn’t get to sleep until late last night.” Fennel said through bites of her pancakes, seemingly unaffected by any of this. “Let me get dressed and I’ll take you guys.”

“Fine, whatever,” the professor relented. She wanted to at least enjoy her breakfast, the only thing she could enjoy about the morning. She was mostly certain that Professor Oak would never see her the same way again, despite her wanting to share her research notes from Sinnoh with him. It didn’t seem appropriate now. Or maybe it’d be a very good distraction.

Before she could mention it, Fennel rose from her seat, announcing that she was going upstairs to get ready, leaving the three of them.

Cedric must have finally sensed his daughter’s annoyance with the entire morning, bringing up her fossil research again. Professor Oak had not seem at all bothered by anything that had happened, and Aurea was determined that the one thing she would take away from today was his approval on her research theories. Or, at least, give her something to ponder that she might not of thought of already.

“Well, we best be going. The ferry isn’t going to catch itself!” Cedric and Oak had grabbed their luggage from the Jeep, throwing it over their shoulders and making their way over to the dock itself.

“Aw, already? But I barely got to see you guys!” Fennel had followed them close at their heels, which for some reason, wasn’t what the other woman expected her to do. Now she would have to get out of the car and see them off.

“I’m sure I could find something for you do in Kanto if you ever wanted, Doctor,” Professor Oak gave her a wink and a smile, extending his arm for her to shake his hand.  It was harmless, along with the thought that Fennel would return to Kanto at all.

Aurea somehow was able to separate her father from the group, pulling him off to the side of the building while Oak kept Fennel distracted. She would of preferred to have spoken to him over the phone later, but she wasn’t about this eat at her until then, either.

“I don’t care that you come here and stay, I really don’t. But please tell me when you’re coming, let alone when you’re bringing guests! Professor Oak is someone I’ve admired my entire life, and you bring him here, unannounced, tell him I’m living with another very esteemed colleague, that I’m dating her, and to you this is somehow entirely okay?!”

“I simply don’t see what the fuss is, Aurea. I don’t think you need to be ashamed, if-”

“I’m not ashamed!” his daughter cut him off, brows furrowed at the seemingly oncoming accusation.

“Then what?”

“Fennel is a very respected scientist. She has her own lab, her own scientific pursuits…I don’t care that others know that we collaborate often on projects, but I just feel that it is best right now if the entire scientific community didn’t know that we were living together. It…doesn’t seem professional.”

Her father remained calm as ever, giving a slight shrug. “So? Out with it, then. The sooner the better, you know that.”

“Don’t you see how this comes across to other professionals? What would you think if you heard that two well known scientists were dating?”

“Not everyone looks at these things as you do, Aurea. You’re two like minded individuals who forged a relationship based on your interests. There’s lots of fellow scientists that are in relationships, it’s not as uncommon as you may believe,” the senior professor took a seat on the bench they seemed to be hovering over. He certainly wasn’t in any hurry to catch a ferry.

The brunette conceded, taking her place next to him. “This is different.”

“What, because you’re gay?” She wasn’t confirming anything, nor denying it, simply staring at the ground upon how bluntly her father grazed the subject. She didn’t think she ever heard him say it out loud before, though he seemed to be stating it as a fact than anything to give thought to.  “While I’m not able to relate to your plight, you should know that people won’t care as much as you think they will, especially here in Unova. You know how much we pride ourselves on our differences.”

She could feel her body tensing up, her heart racing, and tears stinging her cheek before she realized they were there. Looking up, she caught Fennel’s eye for a second, still engaged in her seemingly pleasant conversation with the other professor. She was too far away to hear them clearly, and hopefully far enough that Fennel didn’t become distracted by her posture as a cry for help when it wasn’t. At that, she pushed her shoulders back, inhaling and exhaling deeply. “I…I just don’t want this to be the thing that defines us. We’ve worked so hard to be where we are, professionally…”

“It won’t be, if you don’t let it. People talk, you can’t stop that. But I don’t want you going through life thinking you need to be secretive about something that has no effect on anyone else besides you and her.”

“Her family isn’t happy…” she wasn’t sure why this was the first thought that came to her, besides that it did, indeed, affect a few others.

“But they know. So who cares.” He pulled his daughter in to a tight hug. “You’re both doing fine. Ask her to marry you already.” At this he pressed a kiss to her cheek, releasing her from his grasp and waving as he made his way to the ticket booth, not allowing her any time to formulate an answer if she had one.

“I hope you didn’t yell at him too much,” Fennel approached her where she stood, blissfully unaware of the conversation that took place, grabbing her hand.

“Not as much as I wanted to,” she admitted.

“I love your dad. He has the coolest friends. You’re so lucky,” Fennel mused. “Did you know Professor Oak invented the Pokedex? You’d never know how important he was by just talking to him. He’s so down to earth, and really funny, too.”

“I guess that’s why he and Papa get along so well.”

The professor became very aware that Fennel was holding so tightly on to her hand as they made their way back to her Jeep. She could of let go a while ago, and Fennel would of followed suit.

But she didn’t.


End file.
